When I do television segments, I usually forget to mention something pretty important. Today on Global TV Montreal it was the fact that the Marché Artisans is a quasi-food hall. I said it’s in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, but not that there are different counters where you can sit and order pasta, pizza, charcuterie, tartare, seafood and sandwiches with a glass of wine. My favourite counter, though, is the roast meat counter because of that gorgeous (and wonderfully affordable) whole rotisserie chicken that’s actually high quality (Rose-des-Vents farms, maybe?) and comes with rainbow carrots, silky roasted new potatoes and colourful cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. It’s my meal when I wasn’t something homemade but better – because I don’t own a rotisserie.
Here’s the segment, and below it is everything else I didn’t get to say…
The idea of roasting a giant turkey, making all the side dishes, plus dessert, appetizers and drinks and then being a good host can turn into a lot of work. But you can still celebrate Thanksgiving with delicious food without spending all night doing the dishes.
Go out or order in: Marché Artisans
Montreal has great options for both since a lot of places are still open on Thanksgiving. With the Marché Artisans, you can do either.
This gorgeous spread of chicken with roasted vegetables and gravy is from the new Artisans Market in the renovated Queen Elizabeth hotel. If you haven’t been in there yet, it’s essential a food hall with counters of charcuterie, seafood, pasta, roasted meats, salads, pizza, pastries and chocolates, plus shelves and fridges stocked with artisanal honeys, oils, vinegars, local beer, cider and drinks. Each counter will have a menu, so you can sit and eat a seafood chowder, lobster roll or charcuterie and cheese place on site, or take your food to go.
The Marché Artisans also gave me an incredible, giant lemon meringue tart, a dark chocolate square cake, a charcuterie and cheese platter with fresh figs, raspberries, pickles, jams and grainy mustard, a duck breast prosciutto salad, a small dessert tart platter, and three kinds of their homemade ice cream: Tahiti-Madagascar Vanilla, Chocolate Kaos and Raspberry Bramble.
Plus there were barbecue sauces, mayo and
Delivery
You can even get it delivered. There’s a delivery app called GOLO, where you can order a quarter, half or full rotisserie chicken with roasted potatoes and vegetables, which is what we have here. A lot of the rest of the market’s food is on there, too, so if you want to through in some prosciutto for an appetizer and cake for dessert, you can.
The chicken with all these vegetables is a meal for 3 or 4 and comes to less than $30. The homemade ice creams and sorbet are extra and aren’t for delivery, but to me the Artisans Market ice cream counter is the best kept ice cream secret in Montreal. During the summer, there was a wild strawberry sorbet that was incredible – so smooth and not too sweet. Everything’s homemade, of course.
Top Restaurant for Thanksgiving: La Buvette Chez Simone
You can get a much better home-style roast chicken at La Buvette chez Simone in the Mile End than you ever will at St-Hubert. La Buvette is the iconic casual wine bar in the city and its known for its roast chicken that’s served on a wooden platter with roasted vegetables and a pesto sauce. There an incredible selection of reasonably priced wines by the glass and bottle, unpretentious service and a romantic ambiance. So if you want a relaxed dinner with friends or a romantic Thanksgiving date night, this is the place for you.
The only downsides for me are that the skin isn’t usually crispy, and it’s much less salty than a lot of other places that specialize in chicken. But a lot of people would say less salt is better.
I love that you can create your own antipasti platter by ordering some olives and cheeses and a little charcuterie and it all comes together with fresh bread. They’re open every day, but they don’t take reservations, so don’t get there too late.
It’s about $25 for a half chicken with a bunch of vegetables, sauce and bread.
Really inexpensive option: Le K’BOB
Have you heard of KFC? I don’t mean Kentucky Fried Chicken. I mean Korean fried chicken. It’s usually crispier from being fried twice, less greasy and has a thinner coating. It’s also usually comes in smaller pieces and can be coated in sauce like chicken wings, but more often than not, it’s boneless. At Le K’Bob in NDG on Somerled there’s a whole fried chicken menu page. You can get a whole boneless or bone-in chicken in pieces for $20-$24.
Flavours include plain, spicy sauce, garlic and soy sauce, green onion and soy sauce (I mispronounced this one on air…) and onion-flavoured snowflake powder, so the chicken looks white and tastes a little onion-y. Order it with fries, fish cakes, dumplings or noodles or my favourite kimchi fried rice.
For more restaurant picks, download the Feed Me app, and find some delicious chicken nearby by swiping through photos of restaurants around you.
https://www.fairmont.com/queen-elizabeth-montreal/dining/artisans-market/
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